


Skating

by Orangepencils



Category: Check Please! (Webcomic)
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Gen, Pre-Canon, Skating
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-14
Updated: 2016-02-14
Packaged: 2018-05-20 12:07:46
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,591
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6005326
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Orangepencils/pseuds/Orangepencils
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Bob takes Alicia out for skating. Alicia can't skate.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Skating

**Author's Note:**

> Special heads up to Lomitzz for betaing this for me.

**Skating**

 

It figured that at some point, Bob would ask her out to go skating. She knew it was bound to happen, yet she would have never thought that it would be in mid-July, when Montreal was hot as hell. Or that Montreal had so many indoor rinks.

 

She thought wrong. Very wrong.

 

“Have you ever skated before?” He asked her as they stepped out of the car. Alicia mourned the air conditioning and figured she would be on the ice soon enough. If anything, the cold of the arena would help beat the hot-sticky summer air.

 

“Define skating.”

 

“Ok, do you have your own skates and can you skate?” Bob joked as they walked to the arena. The man working there seemed to know Bob personally and greeted them warmly. Alicia didn’t really catch most of their conversation, but she followed Bob to the locker room to change.

 

“Not really.” She figured she was better off being honest. It wasn’t like Bob wouldn’t notice anyways.

 

“I’ll teach you.” He grinned that mischievous grin of his and Alicia knew she was going to regret this so bad. So bad. She kept herself together and accepted the skates he handed her.

 

Alicia felt like a newborn elephant on her skates, but she tried to carry herself with grace and walked out to the ice, Bob right behind her, amused smile growing by the minute.

 

“You are not allowed to laugh. Not all of us are three time winning Stanley Cup champions.” She reminded him. Bob mimicked zipping his mouth shut and extended a hand that she greatly grasped.

 

“Why am I even surprised that Canadians figured strapping knives to shoes was a good idea?” She muttered after taking a few wobbly strokes. Bob gracefully glided next to her and she envied his easy gait.

 

“You know, it could’ve ended badly, all things considered.”

 

“Shush! And don’t you dare let go of my hand! I don’t think my agent will be quite as fond of you if I come back to him black and blue and he finds out you let his precious actress fall face first.” She gripped Bob’s hand tighter still and he laughed quietly.

 

“Don’t worry, I’m rather fond of your face as well. You’re safe, I’ve got you.” Alicia caught the way his eyes softened when he looked at her and she felt her cheeks flush. She took a few strides and felt like every one of them would lead her to her demise, while Bob made it look like the easiest thing in the world. Logically, she knew that he hadn’t always been this good, but that wasn’t the point. She _always_ looked graceful. She was a model as well, damn it.

 

It was a good thing there was no one else in the arena.

 

“Yes well, still, I feel like a baby giraffe here.”

 

“And what a cute baby giraffe you are.” Bob cooed. Alicia tried pushing him, but she lost balance and thought for sure she would be kissing the ice soon. Luckily, Bob’s reflexes were as sharp as ever and he pulled her to him, just in time.

 

“Easy there...” He helped her find her footing, before skating in front of her. Bob faced her as he skated backwards and then took both her hands. Alicia tried not to glare at him. She could barely put one foot in front of the other and yet he could skate backwards as though he had eyes behind his head.

 

“Okay, so, the trick is to keep your knees bent and just push on one foot and – let yourself glide on it for as long as possible, before doing the same with the other foot.” Alicia blinked at him as though he had spoken to her in Russian – never mind French.

 

“I’ll – I’ll show you, okay? Just watch and don’t fall.” He chided. Alicia rolled her eyes, but watched as he demonstrated what he had tried explaining. It looked easy enough.

 

“Okay, now you try.”

 

Alicia attempted to mimic what Bob had just showed her, but she ended up flailing her arms as she nearly crashed into Bob for what was bound to be the first time of many. Luckily, Bob seemed to find this endearing, instead of frustrating.

 

“Okay, let’s try again, but – look – my grandpa used to tell me – and this is going to sound silly, but it worked – keep your knees bent, your feet opened in an inverted pie shape, and pretend Jesus is holding your head up by a string, and just go.” Alicia stared at him. He seemed a little embarrassed, but she thought the anecdote was cute – endearing even. It was the first time she heard of this.

 

“Your grandfather taught you how to skate?”

 

“Yeah... he – he was a good man. We used to visit him and my grandmother up north, when I was a kid and there was a lake near their property. Grandpa taught us all how to skate...” Alicia linked their hands together and gave Bob’s a warm squeeze.

 

“Alright, well, let’s give it another try then...” She placed herself as Bob instructed and held on to both his hands for dear life.

 

“That’s it, see!” He beamed and Alicia couldn’t say she saw any improvement, but she would take it.

 

“Okay, one more thing –don’t look at your feet, look straight ahead.”

 

When she looked up, the first thing in her line of sight was Bob’s smiling face with his soft eyes and wide smile. Her heart skipped several beats and she knew she was gone on this man – had been for a while, but seeing him like this, on the ice with her, teaching her how to skate, touched something inside her.

 

The first few laps were brutal and Alicia was thankful Bob was there to hold her hand. She was convinced she would have fallen at least twenty times by then, but with Bob’s careful tutelage and his reassuring hold on her, it was fine.

 

“You’re doing better already. Look at you – you’re skating! You might have leveled up to a baby penguin.”

 

“False praise will get me nowhere, Zimmermann.”

 

“But I really mean it,” He laughed deep and loud and Alicia liked seeing him so open. Bob had a nice, contagious laugh. She tried hard not to grin herself. This was serious. “I bet I can even let go of your hand and you’d manage.” Alicia looked as though Bob had told her she would be competing in the next figure skating competition.

 

“Don’t you dare.” She threatened.

 

“Come on, just skate to me. I won’t let you fall.”

 

“Robert Zimmermann, do not let go of me!” Bob skated a few ways ahead of her and laughed. Alicia felt like a fish out of water, a flightless bird trying to fly, as she tried to remain standing and skate towards her jerk of a boyfriend.

 

“That’s it! You’re doing great!”

 

“You keep moving back! That’s not fair. You can’t just skate back forever. How am I supposed to catch up?” Bob didn’t answer and skated further away. Alicia stopped to catch her breath and placed her feet in the inverted pie shape figure. She reiterated the advice Bob had given her and tried again.

 

She gathered speed and kept her eyes trained on Bob. She thought for sure she would finally make it, but then she failed to see the chip in the ice and lost balance. She yelped and tried not to fall, but her balance was shot and she tipped forward. Right into Bob. Again.

 

“Easy now, I got you. Well, more like you caught me.” He grinned. Alicia gripped his shirt and tried to calm her beating heart. She looked up at him and was once more drawn in by his warm eyes. She kissed his cheek, afraid to go on her tiptoes, thinking she might fall, and Bob pulled her close for a proper kiss.

 

“That wasn’t so hard, now was it?” He looked down at her, his eyes soft and he pushed back a stray strand of her hair behind her ear. Alicia avoided looking at him for a moment, feeling her face go warm at the gesture and instead focused on the writing on his shirt.

 

“Well, I didn’t fall and break my face. It’s something.” She finally said once she had composed herself.

 

“Now imagine how good you’ll get if we keep at this all summer!”

 

“All summer?” She whined. He looked so enthusiastic and she didn’t want to break his bubble, but...

 

“Well, maybe not all summer, but... again?” Alicia knew she couldn’t say no to his hopeful face and quite frankly, she had a lot of fun. Plus, Bob made a good teacher. She could almost see him, with a young boy or girl, teaching them how to skate...

 

She shook her head. Now was not the time to think of such things.

 

“Sure, there can be an again.” She took his hand again and headed towards the exit.

 

“I’m glad. Now, how about some ice cream?” He helped her off the ice and led her back towards the locker room. For a moment, Alicia had forgotten that it was summer outside and not winter, but she wouldn’t say no to ice cream, regardless of the weather.

 

“That sounds more like it!”

 

**FIN**

**Started writing: February 4 th 2016, 11:45am**

**Finished writing: February 4 th 2016, 1:16pm**

**Started typing: February 13 th 2016, 2:09pm**

**Finished typing: February 13 th 2016, 3:21pm**

**Author's Note:**

> I'm randomoranges on Tumblr, come say hi :)


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